Daoc was my first mmo, and like many here, I have fond memories of my time in that world. It still does things that no other game has been able to do. The 3 faction rvr is the best realm/faction based pvp I've ever played. The battleground scenarios they added later, segregated by level, were a blast. The open world pvp back in the day of the large frontiers was really cool, and created a strong sense of realm pride. Looking back with more mmo experience, the pve grind wasn't that much fun, but the class skills and abilities were.

Daoc's melee classes had really solid feeling combat animations and sound effects, including satisfying clunks for shield blocks, and tinks for parries, all alerting the player to reactive abilities that could be used based on blocks and parries (lotro captured some of that feel). I haven't run across another mmo to capture that mix of active and reactive skills, complete with the visual and audio cues that directly match the action in the game as well as daoc did.

I had no idea what was happening at the time (I didn't even know what a guild was), but I got to particpate in the founding of one (The Wanderers), where I learned the standard mmorpg conventions and definitions from the veteran UO and EQ Wanderers. It was an awesome time.

I later went on to try all of the realms, with some hilarious moments and memories as a minstrel in Albion. My heart will always be in Midgard though, with my Thane who looked like Kenny Rogers (pre-plastic surgery).

It is amazing that others have not followed. 3 realms with a homeland to pve in, and a connecting frontier to pvp in. So simple , yet none follows suit.

For sure DAOC had some balancing issues and so forth, bt why isnt part 2 being made is beyond me. In an industry that is all about sequels, the only one I want made, isnt being made.

I just dont get it.

Mythic (or what's left of it, as Bioware-Mythic) seems focused on Warhammer Online. I think like Turbine continuing to support Asheron's Call (despite AC2 failing to gather enough support to survive), they want to keep DaOC going but I don't know if a sequel's in the cards. It's not 2001 anymore. Pouring a lot of money into an mmorpg in today's market (WoW, SWTOR, and an army of mmorpgs converted to F2Ps) is a different risk than in 2001, and nearly everyone seems so fixated on licensed IPs (movies, books, comics etc.) these days.

They might even look at Asheron Call 2's failure and think "well, we'd rather just keep polishing DaOC then risk that much of the DaOC playerbase wouldn't move forward to a new game in the franchise."

I played DaOC, at least through my free month. It didn't hook me, but along with very brief sojourn in Everquest (1999) and a painful (dial-up) experience with Ultima Online (1997), DaOC was part of my mmorpg indoctrination.

One of the best things DAOC did was allow you the full "free" month to set up billing so you avoided the release day server crashes that almost all other MMO's still suffer though. The other thing I really liked was that all members of a group got the drop item off a big mob instead of having to roll for it. There was a sense of excitement when you headed into the frontier each time especially if you were going out to solo some mobs, never knowing if a assassin was hiding nearby. I also like the community response if someone was killed near your border, everyone rushed over to smoke out the killer.

I loved Planetside too. The 3 faction formula works. I still don't understand why Mythic went with 2 factions for Warhammer Online after the success of the realm model they created.

One of the great things about daoc, especially for its time, was that it could make both pvp'rs and pve'rs happy within the same server ruleset. I don't think they opened up the FFA servers until later? You didn't have to play on a ffa server to find good pvp.

My first MMORPG as well. I haven't been able to duplicate many of the things I experienced in DAOC the first time. And I know it's like crack, you can never get that first rush back again, although you keep trying.

Played an Armsman mainly but did venture into the other realms as well. It was great when the call would go out that some hibs had been sighted near our gates. Just seeing everyone riding by heading for the fight was great fun. Too bad you can't duplicate the first time.

First MMO here too... I remember very little other than the catapults and the fact that the game was really f'ing hard.

Oh I also remember when The Wanderers had whatever splinter that happened right at the beginning and whoever was reorganizing things tried to get us to all sit in a circle for some reason. rrmorton and I would have none of that. That was pretty fun.

First MMO here too... I remember very little other than the catapults and the fact that the game was really f'ing hard.

Oh I also remember when The Wanderers had whatever splinter that happened right at the beginning and whoever was reorganizing things tried to get us to all sit in a circle for some reason. rrmorton and I would have none of that. That was pretty fun.

I think DAoC was my first MMORPG. I didn't play it for very long, and quit after the third consecutive session in a row where I logged out with less XP than I logged in with. Not my idea of fun, but then again, this was before the design conventions for games changed from "punish mistakes" into "reward success".

Wow...those screenshots bring back some memories. That's my shadowblade "Thadius" sitting on the right of the circle. I remember finding out that I screwed up very early by assigning points to the left axe skill without realizing it was broken (don't remember why), and decided to make a Thane named "Anger" instead. Thanes were fun. Very early in the game I could f**k up other realms by "dropping hammers" with other nearby thanes. The damage didn't usually kill them, but all of the hammer spell effects would crush their framerate. Eventually they released a patch that disabled the hammers, or allowed players to disable them. I was bummed.

And speaking of getting stunned or mezzed, nothing was more embarassing than getting mezzed by a dude playing a flute. Minstrels ended up being a pretty good solo and support pvp class.

I remember those hibernian bastards that put down the mushrooms that did AE damage. For awhile they dominated any keep battle. My biggest gripe of the game was how they designed a lot of PvP around large-scale warfare yet the engine just couldn't handle it. They really put the cart before the horse in that department.

Only time in any mmo that I really felt the tension going to the Frontier, especially at night.Knowing that some black garbed Middy was lurking near by. And being an Alb Armsman I stood as much chance with that encounter as if I were getting in the cage with St. Pierre...

I never got around to playing this MMO as I was still in to Everquest in a big way when this came out. Then by the time I quite EQ I didn't want to touch another MMO like it for awhile.

So I was thinking of checking it out now as it probably won't be around too many more years and I was always curious about it. With that in mind what would be a good duo group combo as far as classes go? There's a hell of a lot of classes to choose from and the wife and I will likely only play a single month so didn't want to put in a bunch of days and find ourselves stuck because our duo can't handle things.

That is so cool to see those screenshots, almost brings a tear to my eyes. I still remember not being able to make it to that meeting, though I don't remember why. I recognize about 90% of the names there too! Also didn't realize Hotfreak was there at that time!

-ram on ram-GTS spam-Albs out-numbering Hibs and Mids , but Hibs and Mids both working together to take out Albs-Massive RvR battles turning into a slide-show

BUT

I loved the frontier.Relic Raids and Defense (only thing that suck was 2-3 am relic raids so no defenders Tiered BGsDarkness Falls (RvR controlled dungeon) Rushing to the Frontier to defend the miles gate

DaoC was my 3rd MMO, but the one I spent the most hours with. I played in Midgard mostly as a Shadowblade, Hunter and Bonedancer. I loved the RvR too and have some fond memories of playing long into the wee hours of the morn to take Thidranki from the Albions. For some reason the Hibernians were never much of a challenge on our server. I returned for a brief stint when they released Catacombs.

Been doing the trial too for the last few days. Man its hard going back to play an MMO like this - so many things have gotten simpler over the years. Here's a few things that have driven me batty playing this:

- For some classes if you want to switch between damage and healing spells you have to wait 2-3 seconds- The quest journal isn't organized (what zone was the quest I picked up 20 minutes ago for?)- To complete some quests you have to use /say- You can't compare two items to one another on the same screen- To see the full item stats you need to right-click an item then choose INFO from a pop-up window which brings up another pop-up window with the item stats- To sell items you need to talk to a vendor to bring up the vendor window, click on the item in your inventory, drag the mouse cursor to the vendor window and click on the Sell button- The spell interrupt is incredibly high making it difficult for spellcasters to tackle monsters in melee range (...your cast was interrupted...you take 4 damage...your cast was interrupted...you take 3 damage...repeat until frustrated and then switch to whapping the monster with your staff)

Its hard going back to these quirks when things have been made so much more simple and efficient. But I'm kinda enjoying playing it. I love all the different classes the game has to choose from. And except for a few areas (Catacombs) the world hasn't been completely empty - actually its been rather lively in the main towns and starter areas.

But the quests are somewhat of a nightmare to do as many of them don't tell you what to do or where they take place. There was one quest I had that basically said "Talk to <insert strange name>" with no info on what this quest was for, who I got it from, and most importantly where this person was. And while many quests do show up on the map (which doesn't seem to have a zoom so its the size of a postage stamp) not all do.

I did try a bit of RvR in the starting area. The two times I came across other players was one where the guy killed me before I even knew he was there, and a second time where a mob of about 8 players ran me down. The other times I went out I didn't find anyone. So can't quite comment on how the RvR is these days.

So probably won't stick with it after the 14 days complete but it is neat trying it out as I never did play it before.

It's those same quirks that keep me from being able to play EQ. I'm so spoiled with targetting stuff - if I heal the creature I'm fighting, I want it to actually heal the creature's target, not tell me that I can't cast that.

Unfriendly quests were one of the reasons guild chat was so active in daoc. Without help from someone who had done the quest, it was very easy to spend an hour (or more) wondering around the wrong areas trying to find the big spriggans you needed. Even worse were the named mobs that were often times tucked away under a tree or group of bushes, and were on a respawn timer. So you're wondering around the area where you think it is, but you're not sure because it may have just been killed.

Sure, it felt rewarding to find the right area or mob after deciphering the quest clues, but it could also blow 30-45 minutes of already limited playtime for a 30 second kill. I don't miss that either.

The pve stuff was hardcore by today's standards, and not very fun even at the time. It was more efficient to grind mobs in a group than it was to complete solo quests.

The RvR and pvp stuff was where the game shined. That's where modern mmorpg development teams should look for ideas on how to design a game where faction based pvp is the foundation for the entire experience.